Anakbayan New Jersey celebrates the hard-fought victories of the working class on the 130th anniversary of International Workers’ Day alongside the workers of the New York/New Jersey area. Also known as May Day, this day commemorates the struggle of workers and their victories for workers’ rights. 2016 is especially momentous as the 10th anniversary of the May Day coalition that has gathered immigrant and workers organizations every May 1st for the past decade.

International Workers Day has its roots in the fight for an eight hour work day and the right to organize during the early 19th century in the U.S. An average worker’s workday would typically go for 12-14 hours—upwards of 18-20 for some—and would take place in very unsafe and unjust conditions. Workers began to organize and form unions to protest against their capitalist employers for an eight hour work day without a decrease in pay; these demonstrations were then met with violence by police and armed agents hired by factory owners. Eventually, these protests resulted in the legal establishment for an eight-hour work day, and May Day became an internationally recognized holiday celebrating workers around the world and a day to organize and mobilize for worker struggles.